The verdict is in on Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s new film, The Smashing Machine, and it looks pretty good, to be fair. The main takeaway? Anyone who dismissed The Rock as just a bald, tough, muscular fight sport veteran will have to eat their words.
It turns out he’s actually a really good actor. There’s talk of a previously unseen ability to immerse himself in a character, to completely lose his own identity in a role. In this case, the role is—you guessed it—a bald, tough, muscular fight sport veteran.
What’s his secret? Who knew? What’s next? A repressed English butler who, in his spare time, is a bald, tough, muscular fight sport veteran? Or a Lytton Strachey biopic reimagining the Bloomsbury dandy as, yes, a bald, tough, muscular fight sport veteran?
Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s good casting. It makes sense, like asking the real-life “Smashing Machine” to play someone called “The Destruction Appliance,” or casting Daniel Day-Lewis as a brooding method actor named Derek Cheese-Omelette. Horses for courses. Roles that mirror roles.
This leads to an obvious question: What do you actually know about Florian Wirtz?
There are the obvious football facts. Wirtz has played eight regular-season games for Liverpool, showing flashes of being light, skillful, and nimble. He hasn’t scored or assisted yet, though he’ll hope to change that against Chelsea on Saturday. The general view is that he needs to adapt, speed up his game, and get used to fewer touches.
What else? He has nine siblings. He looks like a 20th-century Balkan anarchist-poet. His dad coached his village club in a place that sounds like it’s always covered in snow, full of gingerbread, harpsichord recitals, and historical town-square tragedies.
Beyond that, not much is known about Florian Wirtz. What is “Florian Wirtz”? A way of standing and running. A glowing shape on a screen. A feeling, a hot topic, a symbol of anxiety and excitement. Even Wirtz himself doesn’t know much about who he is—a 22-year-old who had only played in Germany before becoming, absurdly, the eighth most expensive footballer of all time.
In the past week, Wirtz has been the subject of countless articles and discussions—67,000 and counting, according to Google. From debates about Arne Slot’s overflowing inbox, to gruff pundits questioning his courage, to angry fans in Micronesia detailing his every flaw.
The conversation around Wirtz is dense and structural, driven by tribal rivalries, economics, and market values. Meanwhile, the real Florian Wirtz—a young attacking midfielder—has played 689 minutes of autumn football in a team in transition. The only real issue, for which he isn’t responsible but which overshadows everything else, is that bizarre price tag.
Here’s an important point: In a sport where every stat is analyzed, why is football so blind to the impact of transfer fees? The evidence is clear. Spending huge sums is always a massive gamble, almost an act of self-sabotage.
Of the top 35 most expensive transfers, 18 have been total failures. Arguably, only one of the top 10—Jude Bellingham to Real Madrid—has worked out as intended.In a game increasingly driven by data and analytics, why do so many clubs overlook the most telling statistic? Spending over £80 million on a player rarely pays off.
We could spend ages debating specific cases, but let’s dismiss the most glaring one right away: Neymar’s €222 million transfer to Paris Saint-Germain. That deal was an aberration that warped the entire market, resulting in little more than Neymar posing in a Parisian fashion shoot on crutches, wearing nothing but a solid-gold bowler hat. It serves as a clear indicator: if you believe that allowing a government to funnel its marketing budget into player acquisitions represents a “free market,” you fundamentally misunderstand what a free market is.
The same applies to Kylian Mbappé’s move to PSG, who only won the Champions League after letting him go. Further down the list, you’ll find Gareth Bale at number 18 and Harry Kane at 21 before encountering a transfer that clearly delivered value without negative repercussions. The real failures are those that threaten to destabilize entire clubs. Take Eden Hazard’s transfer to Madrid: the cost of a small nation’s GDP for what amounted to a pleasant vacation in a city known for its fine ham. Or Neymar’s move to Al-Hilal, which seemed more about containing community fallout than footballing merit, like quarantining a plague ship for the greater good.
Overall, only seven of the top 35 transfers appear to be worth the money: Virgil van Dijk, Frenkie de Jong, Neymar to Barcelona, Kane, Bale, Gonzalo Higuaín to Juventus, and the ultimate benchmark—Madrid’s signing of Cristiano Ronaldo, a true sporting machine who devours transfer fee pressure as if it were a high-protein snack.
The specific concern with Wirtz is that he’s being tasked with something unprecedented. Consider every creative attacker under 23 bought for €100 million and expected to excel in a tougher league: João Félix to Atlético Madrid (a complete failure), Ousmane Dembélé to Barcelona (a chaotic disaster), Antony at Manchester United (spent a year on the sidelines looking frustrated), Enzo Fernández to Chelsea (showing improvement), and Bellingham, who deserves credit for even making it this far. So, best of luck with that, Florian.
While transfer fees are abstract and ideally shouldn’t matter, such massive spending often signals deeper issues: a statement signing, a desperate gamble, or buying at peak value and hoping for the best.
Fees do matter. They represent funds that can’t be used elsewhere, create internal hierarchies, and set unrealistic expectations. It seems ridiculous in hindsight to blame Paul Pogba alone for Manchester United’s struggles. Price tags are often arbitrary and inflated by the Premier League premium, but they weigh heavily on a 22-year-old, placing them among legends and fixed points in football history.
Moreover, the demand for immediate returns robs us of patience. Many great players needed time to develop, but Wirtz won’t have that luxury—scrutiny will be harsh and immediate. The real problem is a very obvious…At Bayer Leverkusen, Wirtz had five defensive players behind him, serving as the central link for every attacking move. Now, Liverpool is adopting a new formation. The key partnership between Salah and Trent, which defined the Klopp era, is gone.
Wirtz arrives as a creative talent just as the league is shifting toward a style focused on physical clashes, power, intense running, and set-pieces. While his delivery is strong, he doesn’t contribute much in these other areas. In Wednesday’s match against Arsenal, Daniel Podence, who stands at 5ft 4in, was seen actively avoiding set-pieces, almost like someone caught off guard in an embarrassing moment. At one point, he jumped for a high ball and looked as though a small action figure had been tossed at Ben White from a moving car.
It should still work out. Wirtz is an exceptionally skilled footballer. But time is incredibly tight. A €60m Wirtz could be benched and developed gradually. A €125m Wirtz, however, must endure the spotlight, feeling slightly out of place and overburdened—the latest to face the pressure of high expectations and football’s financial excess, bringing his refined abilities back into the relentless grind.
Frequently Asked Questions
Of course Here is a list of FAQs about a footballer struggling with a high transfer fee inspired by the topic of Florian Wirtz
General Beginner Questions
1 Who is Florian Wirtz
Florian Wirtz is a highly talented young German attacking midfielder who plays for Bayer Leverkusen and the German national team He is known for his creativity dribbling and goalscoring ability
2 What is a transfer fee
A transfer fee is the money one football club pays to another to acquire a player who is under contract Its like a buying price for a player
3 What does living up to a transfer fee mean
It means a player is performing on the field at a level that justifies the large amount of money the club spent to sign him This includes scoring goals providing assists and positively influencing games consistently
4 Why is there so much pressure on a player with a high fee
Because the club has invested a huge amount of its budget and fans and owners expect a immediate and significant return on that investment Every mistake or quiet game is magnified
Advanced Detailed Questions
5 What are the specific challenges a young player like Wirtz faces with this pressure
He has to deal with intense media scrutiny the weight of expectation from fans and the pressure to instantly adapt to a new teams tactics and a higher level of competition all while still developing as a young player
6 Besides performance how else is a players value judged
Value is also judged by shirt sales increased media attention for the club commercial appeal and their role in helping the team win trophies or qualify for prestigious tournaments like the Champions League
7 Can a high transfer fee actually harm a players development
Yes sometimes The immense pressure can affect a players confidence lead to them playing scared to make mistakes and create a toxic relationship with fans if results dont come quickly
8 Are there recent examples of players who did live up to huge transfer fees
Yes great examples are Erling Haaland at Manchester City and Virgil van Dijk at Liverpool Their performances were instrumental in their teams winning major trophies making their high fees seem like a bargain
